Chapter 11

We were both grim as we drew up to Liv's house. It wasn't too far from Connor's but was set back, gated, and didn't look so modern; the stone build had been deliberately designed to look old.

Gunnar didn't press the intercom to alert Liv; instead he held the little keypad for a moment and the gate swung open. ‘Nice,' I commented. A small smile curved his lips.

We parked on the gravel drive, but before we could climb out of the car Liv opened the front door. ‘Come to waterboard me in person?' she asked archly. ‘I'm always willing to get wet for you, Gunnar.' She licked her full lips.

She was wearing a see-through baby-doll nightdress and nothing else. Her hair was in a loose Afro and she looked untameable and wild; I could well imagine she'd be amazing in the sack. As I felt my cheeks grow warm, I looked away. Then it occurred to me that was probably her purpose in opening the door dressed like that: she loved to shock.

I forced my eyes back to her face and she met my gaze. Looking amused, she gave me a wink and my skin warmed further. Being a vampire, you'd think that I wouldn't be able to blush but I really could. Damned heartbeat. Hopefully the darkness hid quite how red my face was.

I cleared my throat then briskly pulled up the photos on my phone and passed them to Gunnar. He could get closer to Liv: I was keeping my distance. When I stepped back a few feet, she smirked even more.

‘We've had two incidents with curses,' Gunnar said.

‘And you're here to accuse little old moi?' She fluttered her eyelashes in fake distress.

‘Not at all. We're here to see if you recognise the writing. They're done by the same caster.'

Liv sobered, took the phone and flicked through the curses. ‘The first one is pretty mild, but the second one is nasty. You'll need a shaman to break that.'

‘Do you recognise it?' Gunnar asked.

She shook her head slowly. ‘Sorry, no. You have to understand, curses are kept private and so is ordinary rune work. Everyone has their own style, and their own family runes that others don't know or use, and they're closely guarded. I've seen some curses and rune work in Portlock but mostly when they've gone wrong, so I've seen a lot of junior work. This isn't junior, this is expert. It was done by someone experienced.'

‘Could you name them?' Gunnar pressed.

Liv tapped a finger on her lips. ‘I'll investigate and report back. Now, are we done here or are you coming inside?' She opened the door a little wider. ‘You're both more than welcome,' she said throatily. She drew her gaze over us, letting it heat up.

As I all-but ran to the car, her laughter followed me. Gunnar slammed the car door shut at about the same time I did. ‘Let's not mention this to Sig,' he suggested.

I grinned. ‘Deal.'

Back at the office, Sidnee was at her desk. ‘You're not supposed to be in,' Gunnar said, looking at her with concern.

She shrugged. ‘I had some bad dreams. I fancied company.'

His eyes softened. ‘And we weren't here. I'm sorry, Sidnee.'

‘It's okay, I had Shadow. Give me the rundown. Anything juicy?'

We told her everything. When we were done, she hauled out her phone, typed a message and hit send. ‘Okay,' she said brightly. ‘You need a shaman and I happen to know one. Do you remember Anissa Popov?'

I remembered her well: she'd been on our list to investigate when we were searching for Eric the werewolf's killer. We'd taken her off that list pretty quickly when we discovered she'd been in Anchorage having a baby at the time of the murder. ‘Yes, of course.'

‘She was one of the nurses when I was in the hospital, and she was super lovely. We keep talking about meeting for a coffee. I've asked her to visit Jeff and let me know if she can do anything.'

‘That's great.' Gunnar clapped her shoulder. ‘Thanks, Sidnee.'

‘How about I run around looking for a suspicious number of parked cars?' I suggested.

Gunnar nodded. ‘You do that. I'm going to check through our records of magic users, shamans and necromancers and see if any of them are worth a closer look.'

‘Isn't Liv doing that?' I asked.

‘Do you trust her?' he shot back.

‘Kind of.'

His shoulders slumped. ‘So did I, but she's running an illegal market so…'

‘She did have a point – it comes to the supernat towns regardless.'

‘Maybe,' Gunnar admitted begrudgingly.

‘Anyway, I'll do a recce and look for lots of cars.'

‘Take Fluffy with you,' Gunnar ordered as he handed me the keys to the Suburban.

‘You got it, boss.' I flipped him a cheeky salute.

‘I used to be respected,' he muttered as he went into his office.

Sidnee and I exchanged grins. ‘Email me the photos from your phone,' she said, ‘and I'll start a draft of the paperwork.'

‘You're the best!' I sent the photos then I studied her; she looked tired. ‘You sure you're okay?'

‘I'll be fine. Thanks.' She gave me a quick hug. ‘Go on, now. Let me steal your cat while you fight crime.'

‘I have to find it first,' I groused.

Fluffy and I left together, determined to find the highly illegal, carefully hidden black market – before someone else got cursed.